Nidal Sliman

Al-Shabaka Policy Member Nidal Sliman has more than 15 years of experience in international law, human rights, and international trade and development. He received his LL.B and LL.M degrees in law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1996 and 1999, and completed a PhD in law summa cum laude from Notre Dame University in 2008. He worked as a legal advisor at the Negotiations Support Unit and advised UNESCO and the Palestinian Authority on legislative reforms to protect Palestinian cultural heritage. He is the Policy Reform Team Leader on the Palestinian Investment Climate Improvement Project focusing on business-enabling environment and trade reforms.

Palestinian leaders have not activated Palestine’s UNESCO membership despite the costly battle to join and even though it could help rebalance the skewed Israeli-Palestinian power dynamic. Al-Shabaka Guest Author Valentina Azarov and Policy Member Nidal Sliman review the assaults on Palestinian cultural heritage and set out the significant practical advantages of UNESCO membership, including reasserting sovereignty over Palestinian land and sea and obliging third states to hold Israel accountable.